Beano history 1938-2017
Beano! If you’ve never read it, here’s what you’ve missed…1938: The first edition of the Beano appears, dated 30 July. The Dandy started the previous year. Stories include Big Eggo (the cover story centred on an ostrich), Pansy Potter: The Strongman’s Daughter and the more enduring Lord Snooty and his Pals which lasts into the 1990s. There are only twelve copies of the first issue known to still be in existence. 1939 -1949: Due to paper rationing, the Beano and Dandy both appear on alternate weeks, rather than weekly.1940: The first ever Beano Book. If you own one without a year on the front, it must be from between 1940 and 1965. If it’s called The Magic-Beano Book, It must be from between 1943 and 1950 (the regular comic was never called this).1948: Biffo the Bear appears and immediately knocks Big Eggo off the front page. Eggo disappears forever in 1949. 1951: Dennis the Menace appears, undoubtedly the comic’s most popular and famous story. By strange coincidence, a US strip with the same name about a similarly mischievous but blonde brat started in the same week. The American one was usually just called “Dennis” in the UK to avoid confusion. Cartoons and films of it started to appear in the UK after the Eighties. Biffo remains on the front page. Dennis’s distinctive black and red jumper appear after a few weeks and Dennis’s friends Curly and Pie-Face as well as Softy Walter all appear from the early Fifties onwards. Gnasher comes later.1953: Three major stories Roger the Dodger, Minnie the Minx and Little Plum all begin. Little Plum (“your redskin chum”) ceases to appear regularly after 1998.1954: The Bash Street Kids (initially called When The Bell Goes or When The Bell Rings) appears. There were initially a vague and often changing large group of pupils eventually settling down to a hardcore of eight: Danny, Sidney and Toots (brother and sister), Smiffy (stupid), Erbert (short sighted), Plug (ugly), Spotty (spotty and has a very long tie), Wilfred (face partly obscured by jumper) and Fatty (obese)1954: The Bash Street Kids (initially called When The Bell Goes or When The Bell Rings) appears. There were initially a vague and often changing large group of pupils eventually settling down to a hardcore of eight: Danny, Sidney and Toots (brother and sister), Smiffy (stupid), Erbert (short sighted), Plug (ugly), Spotty (spotty and has a very long tie), Wilfred (face partly obscured by jumper) and Fatty (obese) 1974: Dennis replaces Biffo the Bear on the cover after a twenty seven year run. Biffo ceases to be in the comic regularly after 1986. 1975: The football-obsessed Ball Boy kicks off. 1976: The Dennis the Menace Fan Club begins. 1979: The Bash Street Kids book (just called The Bash Street Kids) starts appearing most years until 2010. Rasher, Dennis’s pet pig gets a story of his own. 1980: Smudge (a bath-averse boy) appears in the comic, lasting into the 1990s. 1982: The first Beano Comic Libraries (small book-like comics with one long story in) appear. 1985: Ivy the Terrible, the Toddler Terror makes her first appearance. 1986: The terminally unlucky Calamity James arrives at The Beano. Gnasher goes missing in a well publicised story, only to return with a new puppy Gnipper who has one solitary tooth (a new story Gnasher and Gnipper appears). Gnasher is male. Who Gnipper’s mother is, is never explained. 1988: The comic is revamped for 50 birthday. Extra pages appear and more colour is used. Many other British comics fold in the Eighties and Nineties (The Beezer, Topper, Buster, Whizzer and Chips). The Beano does well to survive. 1991: The comic’s oldest story Lord Snooty ceases to appear regularly. Some blame John Major’s “classless society”. 1993: The Beezer and Topper merge into The Beano. The Numskulls – who live inside and operate a human body – now appear in The Beano. The comic goes into full colour for the first time. 1994: A new look politically correct Bash Street Kids are unveiled but quickly abandoned after a fierce public backlash. Some suspect it is just a publicity stunt. 1996: A Dennis the Menace cartoon appears on TV. Voices include Billy Connolly and Hugh Laurie. 1998: Birth of Dennis the Menace’s sister Bea. 2002: The Beano Book becomes The Beano Annual. 2004: Dennis the Menace becomes the longest running strip in Beano history (it became the longest running front page story in 2000). As of 2013, the longest running stories are Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, Roger the Dodger, The Bash Street Kids and the previous longest running story Lord Snooty. 2007: The Dandy undergoes a dramatic and probably ultimately fatal revamp, becoming Dandy Xtreme. 2009: Another new TV series, Dennis the menace and Gnasher begins. A second series is on its way. 2012: The Dandy ceases to appear in print and becomes The Dandy Online. Bananaman, the third longest running strip in The Dandy now appears in The Beano and Dandy Online. 2013: The Dandy Online formally ends. The 75 birthday of The Beano! 2015: Lord Snooty leaves the Beano. 2016: Brand new Beano launches with a BANG! Beano has celebrated its biggest transformation since it introduced Dennis the Menace in 1951. Menaces and Minxes of the world, all hail the brand new Beano! On Sunday 25th September, the iconic British brand unleashes a boredom-busting assault on the WORLD with a Beano-inspired digital feed for kids. Not only this, Beano is unveiling an awesome new look across the comic, annual and Beano products, and promising a shed load of rib-tickling fun stuff to follow. Building on its much-loved comic roots, Beano’s new digital “Ultimate Feed of Awesome” is jam-packed with original videos, along with the best bits of YouTube, games, pics, quizzes and interactive fun to help imaginations run riot and keep kids (and even some grown-up ones…) giggling for hours. It will be updated daily so the fun never ends… PLEASE NOTE: BEANO STUDIOS RUNS 100% ON NATURAL LAUGHS Everything on the feed has the rebellious, irreverent Beano spirit, and comes fresh from the mischievous brainiacs at Beano Studios. It launches with lots of original videos, Beano Originals, including brand new cartoons like The Invention of Football (by dinosaurs…), brand new “how to” vids for making cool stuff, and silly jokes delivered by the “Little Squelchies”, all sitting along with great entertainment from Dennis, Gnasher, Minnie and the whole gang. And the great news for parents is that Beano.com is designed to protect kids – there’s no messaging functionality, no collection of personal information without parental say so, and no sharing of marketing data with 3 parties. In fact, it’s so awesome, you can’t put a price on it. So we haven’t. Beano.com is all FREE! With no sneaky charges and no in-app purchases. And what about this new look you ask? It’s a mischievous mix of Beano’s proud comic roots with its big new ambitions, and it looks mega. The awesome new logo won’t just be on the Beano feed, there’ll be epic new T-shirts, hoodies and school accessories. And of course, there’ll be a refreshed version of the world’s longest running Comic and the Annual – still the UK’s bestseller. Boss of Beano Studios Emma Scott mentioned “We’ve spent the last three months blue sky thinking in a thought shower, touching base, singing from the same hymn sheet and pushing the envelope… until we realised that was BORING NONSENSE, and we just needed REALLY FUNNY STUFF.” But this is just the beginning. Beano Studios will be cranking up the mayhem generator with a top secret announcement this autumn… lips are tightly sealed, but whispers abound around the new look TV series… You can get involved by checking out Beano.com, coming soon on Apple and Android apps, and across Youtube and PopJam. To subscribe to the Comic & Annual and cover yourself head-to-toe in our new threads visit 2017: 2 brand new comics launch!